E14: The Big Man of Early Australia: John Macarthur

John Macarthur is the biggest personality of early New South Wales.  He arrived with the army aboard the Second Fleet in 1790 … at what was known as the Starving Time.

But Macarthur seems to have relished getting in on the ground floor of a struggling colony that was audaciously claiming two thirds of an undeveloped continent.

Many officers built prosperous farms and enterprises under the three years of laissez-faire under Acting Governors Francis Grose and William Paterson … but none gained more power and wealth than Macarthur.  By mid-1795, after less than half a decade in the colony, Macarthur had lifted himself into the lifestyle of a colonial gentlemen … but he was still young and just getting going.

September 1795 was a turning point.  A new governor arrived in town, another naval officer, Captain John Hunter.  This episode introduces Macarthur and Hunter and outlines why conflict was inevitable between the official boss and the actual boss of early colonial New South Wales.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. 

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Produced by Sean Masters

(All voices in this series as AI generated bar the narrator.)

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